All candidates who sat this year's KCPE exam will get their results, including those who were involved in irregularities, Education CS George Magoha has said.
Speaking on Thursday during the release of KCPE exam results at the Kenya National Examinations Council headquarters in Nairobi, Magoha said President Uhuru Kenyatta intervened in the matter.
Magoha said, "The ministry had initially decided not to release results for the involved students, but the President pronounced himself on the same."
This is a shift from the previous years when results of candidates found cheating would be cancelled or withheld until they are cleared.
In a move that caused a heated public debate in 2016, the then Education CS Fred Mating’i said students caught cheating would have to wait two years before retaking the exam.
Matiang’i said technology would also be used in the effort to stem exam cheating as students found cheating would be deregistered and stopped from completing the exam.
Earlier, in a bid to control exam irregularities, Matiang’i had banned mid-terms, visiting days, prayers' and all other social activities during schools' third term. Such events, he argued, contributed to exam malpractices since students would get access to exam papers and mobile phones.
The current CS Magoha said exam irregularities had gone down in the 2020 exams. In the administration of the 2020 KCPE exam he said, the government sustained a robust security arrangement through Multi-Sectoral Examinations Monitoring Team.
Five cases of impersonation were picked during the examination process. Invigilators also found seven candidates with prepared notes in exam rooms.
“These measures ensured that cases of irregularities during the sitting of the examinations, and during the marking process, were either stamped out or nipped in the bud before they could happen,” he said.
He added that the staffers who were involved in cheating will be punished.
"Centre managers, supervisors and invigilators who fiddled with administration of the exams will be dealt with severely," he said.
Magoha lauded the students for their excellent performance amid the coronavirus pandemic.
He said all the 1,179,192 students who sat for their exams will join secondary schools.
Magoha said overall performance improved compared to 2019, although the mark of the highest candidate dropped from 440.
The mean average performance and quality of grades for all candidates were, however, higher.
-Edited by SKanyara
